Reading Journal-December 3rd

As we focus on features for the upcoming final weeks of the semester, I found myself extremely intrigued and interested in the NY Times feature, "A Trial By Fire" by David Grann. There were so many interesting elements to this piece, that I'm not really sure where to begin. I guess I'll start with the lede, an anecdotal lede which I have to say, completely had me hooked. Truly well-written from the beginning, and such a story-like quality from the very first sentence, that it was really difficult to not be curious as to what was going on. Before I started reading, I kept in mind the ideas that we discussed about features in class with Oliver, and how they tend to combine story telling and factual evidence, along with making the piece flow in such a way that the reader is dying to know what happens next. Now, I'm sure not all features are written quite like this one, only because not all the subject matters are as interesting and complex. However, this particular story had several twists. The caption under a magnificent photograph on the first page shows Willingham and reads:

Cameron Todd Willingham in his cell on death row, in 1994. He insisted upon his innocence in the deaths of his children and refused an offer to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. Photograph by Ken Light.


So we know that the story is going to ultimately conclude with Willingham's imprisonment and eventual death. Naturally, I was curious from the beginning as to how someone could come to this situation. I also felt sadness for Willingham right away, even though I wasn't sure how he'd gotten into the position he was in. Without knowing any facts, I was already somewhat attached to the character.


This is a really important detail for me personally, as a writer, because I've always been a creative writer. Journalism is something that's just recently entered my life. To read this piece and see how magnificent the writer put together the story, in a detailed and creative manner, is almost as if to say that there's hope for creative writers in the journalism industry. (haha)


As the story unfolds, we learn that the fire in the house was deliberately caused by someone. I took note of the fact that anytime an assessment was made by the detectives, it was carefully explained. In other words, when the spider web pattern on the glass was brought up, it was deliberately explained because the writer knew that we as readers, would have no idea what kind of significance that had. I certainly didn't. That's crucial, because feature writing is not only supposed to flow well, but the author is supposed to have a certain amount of audience awareness. This means that he or she is able to get in our heads and guess what we'll find confusing, then explain it before we have the chance to feel confused. In any sort of writing, that's something that should always observed, but particularly in feature writing, because of the story-telling aspect to it. There's no time for the reader to feel caught up or confused, so everything needs meticulous planning. This shows that the writer truly did all of his research.


I wanted to talk about this story for my entire journal entry because it is a really well written piece, but I really wanted to address the story-telling aspect of feature writing because it is what interests me most. The Washington Post piece, titled, "Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?" by Gene Weingarten, did a fantastic job of doing what we talked about in class on Monday, which was, telling several different small stories in order to get at one larger story. I guess that is essentially a microcosm style piece, which is really interesting because while we've definitely seen microcosm journalism, I've never actually examined it in feature writing. This is a style of writing that I quite enjoy, because it is easy to really drive a point home to the reader. 


In the WP feature, Weingarten began with what I thought to be a fantastic anecdotal lede, got the reader hooked, and then let out small details bit by bit through different stories of child deaths in cars. (Let's not forget the fact that this topic in that of itself is so heart-wrenching to even think about. On the plus side, this makes it really easy for the writer to build an emotional connection with the reader right away.) Each of the smaller stories lent themselves over to the larger idea at hand, and each tragic story had something different to bring to the table, all contributing to the thesis and lede.


I loved the "character" build up of Lyn Balfour. I think that it's probably every feature story's goal to build a character and depend on that character for the emotional connection to the reader. However, as I mentioned before, this was already covered by the subject manner. So the character analysis and build-up of Balfour was truly amazing because of how to the point her description was, and so incredibly relatable at the same time. We all know that kind of person. It's just another cherry on top of a perfect story.


The ending of the piece was also well-done in my opinion, because it left us totally wanting more, but at the same time, played on the whole emotional aspect even further. Anything that has to do with selflessness is essentially a 100% crowd pleaser. Offering to carry a baby for the Harrisons? Come on. The cat is IN the bag.